Thursday, August 2, 2007

Eric Edelman: key conspirator in Sibel Edmonds case

Until recently, Eric Edelman, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, was the most powerful neocon in the country that hardly anybody had ever heard of, despite his role in outing Valerie Plame.

For one reason or other, Edelman has been making a splash lately. He recently sent Hillary a letter telling her to stop giving aid & comfort to enemies, and earlier this week Bob Novak wrote that Edelman was briefing Congress on plans to secretly assassinate Kurdish fighters in Iraq.

Given Edelman's low public profile to date, there might be some things that you don't know about him. For example, did you know that Edelman replaced Doug Feith via a recess appointment? Do you know that he lied and told congress that he wasn't involved in the Plame investigation? Did you know that he was hated when he was the Ambassador to Turkey?

Oh. And did you know that he is neck-deep in the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds?

In March of this year, Sibel and I were jointly being interviewed on a radio show when she said:

"I would like to actually go back and talk about the individuals that Luke Ryland named - for example, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Marc Grossman - another individual is Eric Edelman, because most people here already know, and they associate these guys with the neocons and also Israel, but there is another element there that ties all four individuals here.

If you look at, for example, Richard Perle, & Douglas Feith, these two individuals between 1988/89 to about 1995/96, they set up a lobbying firm called International Advisors Inc, and they registered as foreign agents, representing the government of Turkey, this is Richard Perle, & Douglas Feith, and of course we know that they became top guys within the Pentagon after the Bush administration came into power.

And then you look at Marc Grossman - Marc Grossman was the US ambassador to Turkey, from 1993 to 1997, and Marc Grossman became the number 3 guy in the State Department in this administration, and he resigned in 2005 and currently he is hired by one very large Turkish company that is also a front for a lot of illicit activities.

Then you can look at Eric Edelman who, 2 or 3 years ago, took Douglas Feith's old position at the Pentagon, and Eric Edelman was another ambassador to Turkey until he took this position at the Pentagon, so not only do these guys have Israel in common, they have Turkey in common - and people really should be paying attention to this, and looking into it, and this is why Luke Ryland has been doing this incredible job in terms of piecing these elements together, and packaging it, because this information is public! It doesn’t matter if I’m gagged on some issues, there's so much out there and so much that can easily be pieced together that our mainstream media has failed us"

If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time that Sibel mentioned Edelman by name, although he had previously made an appearance in Phil Giraldi's superb article on Sibel's case.

One of the big mysteries about Edelman was why he was moved from the heart of the OVP as Cheney's principal deputy national security adviser to become the Turkish Ambassador in 2003, immediately after the Iraq invasion when tensions with Turkey were at their peak. It's an odd career move. Jim Lobe sheds some light on this in a blog post on Tuesday:

"Cheney obviously thought highly enough of (Edelman's) work (and ideological tendencies) to name Edelman as his principal deputy national security adviser under Scooter Libby in 2001 and worked with Libby in the run-up to the Iraq invasion after which he was named ambassador to Turkey (on the strong recommendation, according to one knowledgeable source, of Richard Perle, who has long-standing interests in Turkey)."

Fancy that.

Edelman failed as an Ambassador in Turkey, at least by any of the usual metrics. A typical observation in the Turkish press was:

"Edelman is probably the least-liked and trusted American ambassador in Turkish history, and his reputation is not likely to recuperate. Edelman’s actions have exceeded his diplomatic mission. His ‘interest’ in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the Turkish media and ethnic minorities make him go beyond his role as an ambassador. His presence here has never contributed to Turkish-American relations, and it never will. If we want to address the reasons for anti-Americanism, Edelman must be issue one. As long as Edelman stays in Turkey, the chill wind disturbing bilateral relations will last."

'Despite' Edelman's 'failures' in Turkey, Lobe reports:

My understanding is that both Cheney and Perle played a role in persuading Rumsfeld to take on Edelman at the Pentagon after Feith announced his departure.

Again, fancy that.

Now, why are Perle, Feith, Grossman and Edelman desperate to hold key positions in embassies and the Pentagon? Here's Giraldi:

"Sibel Edmonds, the Turkish FBI translator turned whistleblower who has been subjected to a gag order could provide a major insight into how neoconservatives distort US foreign policy and enrich themselves at the same time. On one level, her story appears straightforward: several Turkish lobbying groups allegedly bribed congressmen to support policies favourable to Ankara. But beyond that, the Edmonds revelations become more serpentine and appear to involve AIPAC, Israel and a number of leading neoconservatives who have profited from the Turkish connection.[snip]Some of (the bribes) may come from criminal activity, possibly drug trafficking, but much more might come from arms dealing. Contracts in the hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars provide considerable fat for those well placed to benefit."

Indeed. Keep that in mind while you try to process the recent announcement that the Bush Egadministration has just announced $30bn in new weapons sales to Israel, and $20bn in sales to Saudi Arabia. And don't forget the recent $15bn in fighter-jet sales to Turkey.

Oh - and when Eric Edelman's name pops up in the media again, remember, he's not just a guy who wrote Hillary a nasty letter. Eric Edelman is a key conspirator in the Sibel Edmonds case.